21st February 2014

Founder’s Day Service – Friday 14th March

Our annual service to commemorate the Founder of the School will be held in St George’s Church at 10am on Friday, 14th March. Attendance is compulsory and all pupils should go directly to the church where they will be registered between 9.30 and 9.45am. The service is likely to end about 11am and pupils have the rest of the day free. Please note that there will be no lunch available for Senior School pupils that day. There are no bag storage facilities at the church but if necessary, pupils may deposit bags under the archway at school before going to the church. Morning bus services will operate as normal and pupils can wait at school before making their way to church.

Afternoon bus services are as follows:

Jones Coaches

Bus services will run as usual in the morning

There will be an additional bus service (combining SG1 & SG2 routes) departing from SGS at approx. 11.30/12 noon and following the ‘late bus’ route

Holly Coaches

Metro Taxis

Service will run as usual in the morning

Minibus will collect pupils from SGS at 11.30am

There is no service running at 4pm

If you wish to pick up your child after the Founder’s Day Service we suggest you arrange to do so at the school car park about 11.15am. It is almost impossible to park at or within range of St George’s Church.

Members of Chorus and Chamber Choir should arrive at St. George’s Church at 8.25am to start rehearsing at 8.35am. Members of Junior Singers should arrive at 9am to start rehearsing at 9.10am. The dress code for Founder’s Day is school uniform.

Sport

Hockey

Good luck to the First XI Hockey squad who will be playing in the national finals of the Schools Championships for Girls on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th February at Cannock Hockey Club. For full details of the times and fixtures click here.

Results

SPA Quiz

Be quick, and there’s still time to enter a team for the SPA Quiz on Friday 7th March 7.30-11.30pm. Tickets £5 per head (includes entry to quiz and cheese platter). Click here for the booking form.

Godspell

Running from the 19th – 22nd March and involving over 70 pupils, the Senior School’s production of the hit Broadway musical Godspell promises the usual SGS high standard of drama, music and visual spectacle. Please download a ticket request form here and return to Mrs Johnson in the Music department with your payment. Tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis and cannot be reserved without payment.

Online Child Protection

John Carr, an expert in online child protection, will be giving a talk for Senior and Junior School parents at 7pm on Thursday 27th March. John Carr is a key adviser on internet safety to the UK Government and is a member of the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety. John has also been a Senior Expert Adviser to the United Nations, an Expert Adviser to the European Union, the European Network and Information Security Agency, and a consultant to the Oak Foundation, Geneva. The talk, which will include a question and answer session, will not be suitable for attendance by pupils. Please make a note of the date in your diary; further information will be available after the half term break.

Schools’ Challenge

Well done to Will Spence, Will Johnson, Emily Howling and Sam Howard who took part in the regional competition of Schools’ Challenge (Merseyside and Manchester) recently. Having progressed through the group stages beating Merchant Taylors’ B team, Calday Grammar School and Manchester Grammar School, the team then played Merchant Taylors’ Senior Boys’ A team in the final and won 770-690. They now progress to the inter-regional final against Bradford Grammar School, with the winner going into the last eight nationally. For further details click here.

Albert Johnston Travel Award

Two trips will be made possible this summer thanks to the school’s Albert Johnston travel award. Lower Sixth pupil Lydia O’Donoghue will travel and perform with the Medrano Circus in France and Upper Sixth pupil Nick Dove will be cycling the route of the Tour de France 2000. The travel award is a bursary offered to individuals or teams from the Sixth Form who would like to travel to further their experience and knowledge of a passion or subject.

Congratulations

Ellie Ward, Annabel Tordoff, and Kitty Taylor have been selected to represent Greater Manchester and are training with the Junior Hockey Academy for the second year running in preparation for their county matches during March and April this year.

NW Schools Classics Reading Competition

SGS will be hosting this annual event, sponsored by the Classical Association, on Wednesday 12th March. It will involve approximately 25 schools and 90 pupils. Both Latin and Greek passages are read out before judges and fellow competitors. There is a Beginners’ Latin section, which we won last year, as well as GCSE and A level entrants.

First and Second Form Friends

Fifth Year pupils are invited to apply for the First and Second Form Friend Scheme for next academic year. An application form can be found at

Classics

HisTroy

This year’s Classics Play, HisTroy was a reworking of Ajax and Philoctetes which were both written by Sophocles in the 5th century BC. The play, set in the First World War, sought to show that the difficulties faced by soldiers in war are universal. The cast of twelve was drawn from the Lower Sixth and over 200 people came to see the play over the three nights. For further details and pictures click here.

War Exhibition

An exhibition on War was set up in the Hallam Hall to coincide with the Classics Play. Pupils from across the school produced work in a variety of lessons to examine what War meant to them. Poems (in English and German) and paintings were exhibited alongside research work on life in the trenches and on local ‘Pals Battalions’. Pupils from Years 5 and 6 in the Junior School also contributed vibrant research projects on different weapons of war. A War Cookery workshop yielded dishes prepared from wartime recipes and the Lower Sixth textiles class had designed costumes for the play.

War Day

Each class in the lower school took part in a competition run by the English department, which examined the pupils’ abilities either to respond to an image of war, or to empathise with those involved in war. Twenty pupils from each of the lower school years, whose work was judged the most thoughtful spent the day off-timetable joining in a variety of activities. After lunch, presentations were made to the best delegations and to Second Year pupil Megan King as the best delegate. The day finished with a matinee performance of HisTroy.

Warhammer 40000 School League Competition

Well done to Fifth Year pupils Oliver Nolan, Richard Almond, Spencer Hewitt and Aiden Barlow who recently won the local heats of the Warhammer 40000 competition and are now through to the semi-finals at Warhammer World, Nottingham on the 20th March.

Katie’s Ball

Katie Thorburn and Mrs Jeanette Warburton, whose daughter Leina is in the Fifth Year with Katie, are planning a charity ball in aid of CLIC Sargent. The ball is to be held on Saturday 26th April 2014 at The Mercure Hotel in Manchester City Centre. Katie has been raising funds for cancer charities since her diagnosis with Osteosarcoma in September 2012. Please see http://katiesballforclicsargent.weebly.com/ for ticket and sponsorship information.

Oxbridge Dinner

We are pleased to invite you to the Stockport Grammar School Oxbridge Dinner which will be held on Friday 2nd May 2014 at Hertford College, Oxford. Tickets are £55 each (£35 for full-time students), the ticket price includes meal and drinks. Dress is Black Tie for gentlemen and cocktail dresses for ladies.

To book your tickets please download the request form here and return it with your cheque to External Relations. Please make cheques payable to Stockport Grammar School. Places are limited and tickets will be allocated in the order the requests are received.

Ski Trip 2015

Please note that next year’s lower school ski trip to St Anton in Austria is now fully subscribed.

Half Term Break

The school will re-open to pupils on Tuesday 4th March. We would like to wish pupils and parents a restful and enjoyable half term break.

Please check the news pages on our website for regular updates. We would welcome your comments and suggestions, or if you would like to opt out of receiving the email newsletter, please contact the External Relations Office at externalrelations@stockportgrammar.co.uk.